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ACCESS ( ðñïóáãùãÞ ).—No word in the English language expresses the double meaning of ðñïóáãùãÞ . While the Authorized Version translates it invariably ‘access,’ the Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 more accurately renders ‘our access’ in Rom_5:2 and Eph_2:18.
The ðñïóáãùãåýò at Eastern courts acted as official introducer in conducting strangers to a king’s presence.* [Note: Tholuck, Rom. l.c., and Ustcri, Lchrb. ii. i. 1, p. 101.] Whether there were any allusion to this or not in the minds of our New Testament writers, the custom illustrates appropriately one use of the word ‘access.’ Christ as our Introducer obtains admission for us into the favour and presence of God. ðñïóáãùãÞ is ‘aditus ad rem vel personam’ (Grotius). It means (1) ‘introduction,’ ‘admission’ (see references to classical Greek authors, and to Chrysostom in Ellicott on Eph_2:18); (2) ‘liberty of approach.’
‘Access’ ( ðñïóáãùãÞ ) occurs in three passages in the New Testament, Rom_5:2, Eph_2:18; Eph_3:12. An examination of these passages will best explain what ‘access’ meant in the thought of St. Paul. Then it will be necessary to consider 1Pe_3:18 ‘For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us ( ðñïóáãÜãῃ ) to God’; and afterwards, the idea of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews regarding ‘access’ as the act of drawing near to God through the great High Priest must be stated.
1. Rom_5:2 ‘Through whom we have also [ êáß , ‘copulat et auget’ (Toletus), ‘answering almost to our “as might be expected” ’ (Alf.)] got [ ἐó÷Þêáìåí ] our [ ôÞí ] access (introduction) by our [ ôῇ ] faith, into this grace wherein we stand.’ The Perfect tense is used in connexion with that justifying act referred to in Rom_5:1. Access is not here a second privilege of the justified, but introduction to the very grace of justification itself. We owe to Christ not only peace as the primary blessing of justification, but admission to that state which is the atmosphere of peace.
This paragraph, beginning with Rom_5:1 and descriptive of the life of the justified, is founded on the doctrinal basis just laid down. The Apostle has examined the world of men, as it appeared in the prevalent antithesis of Jew and Gentile. His spiritual diagnosis revealed the fact of universal sin and universal condemnation. A guilty race, a holy God, and a broken law, with its death penalty, were factors in the problem for solution. This problem, insoluble by man, is taken in hand by Christ. Christ provided a solution as effectual as the need for it is clamant. The summary of that solution as contained in Rom_4:24 f. is the Divine certificate of its efficacy. It was written not for the sake of Abraham alone (a typical case of its application), but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Based on this, ch. 5 begins: ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Before getting further, the Apostle ‘harks back’ in Rom_5:2 to the thought of justifying grace, access to which is by Christ.
Into the state of justifying grace we have access through Christ’s Passion. His introduction includes, nay, is the starting-point of, liberty of approach. The need of an introduction implies that we were outside the state into which we are introduced. St. Paul himself had experienced transition from the condition of a condemned, to that of a justified, sinner. ‘Barnabas introduced him to the apostles (Act_9:27), and there were others “that led him by the hand to Damascus” (Act_9:8); but it was Christ that introduced and led him by the hand into this grace’ (M. Henry). Christ introduces, ‘Contigit nobis ut perduceremur’ (Erasmus). He does not drag unwilling followers. Faith is the following foot. If He draws us, we run after Him.
2. Eph_2:18 ‘For through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father.’ Eph_3:12 ‘In whom we have our boldness and our access with confidence by the faith of him.’ The old controversy as to whether access means in these verses introduction or liberty of approach, still survives. Among moderns, Alford and Ellicott take opposite sides. Alford contends for the latter as ‘better representing the repetition, the present liberty of approach which ἓ÷ïìåí implies, but which “introduction” does not give.’ While pressing the point that as ‘boldness’ ( ðáññçóßá ) is subjective in Eph_3:12, ‘access’ there coupled with it must also be subjective, he gives away his case by admitting that the second term ( ðñïóáãùãÞ ) is ‘less purely so than the first’ ( ðáññçóßá ). Ellicott argues for ‘introduction’ on grounds of lexical and classical usage, but also makes the significant admission that the transitive meaning of ðñïóáãùãÞ is a little less certain in Eph_3:12 than it is in Eph_2:18, on account of its union with the intransitive ðáññçóßá .
Where equally competent critical authorities thus differ, the context of the passages may be allowed to decide between them. In the paragraph Eph_2:11-22, where ‘access’ (Eph_2:18) appears, the Apostle writes of a change in the Ephesians’ relations corresponding to the change already described as having taken place in their moral and spiritual condition. At one time they were afar off, aliens, strangers, hopeless, godless. A change was effected by the blood of Christ. Those for whom His death procured peace are now declared to be fellow-citizens of the saints, members of the household of God, stones in that living temple in which God dwells through the Spirit. There is surely something more implied by ‘access’ in such a setting than mere liberty of approach to God. The Church is Christ’s body, sharing the privileges of its Head. The reconciliation effected by His blood is not a mere potential one. Very definite language is used to express change of relationship: Eph_2:13 ‘were brought nigh’ (historic). To become citizens of a kingdom, members of a household, stones in a building, implies a definite act performed on behalf of the persons or things thus brought into these new relations. Access in the sense of introduction seems to express most fitly the alteration thus contextually described.
The argument for ‘introduction’ is not quite so strong in Eph_3:12. In the context preceding, St. Paul has been speaking of his own office as Apostle of the Gentiles. He was made a minister of the gospel in order by its means to bring the Gentiles into the fellowship of the saints, and instruct men as to the eternal purpose of God in Redemption. That purpose, executed in Christ, manifested to principalities and powers in heaven the wisdom of God. Had the ‘access’ been used by itself in Eph_3:12 after the above line of thought, that would not point to introduction rather than to liberty of approach. But standing as it does between ‘boldness’ ( ðáññçóßáí ) and ‘with confidence’ ( ἐí ðåðïéèÞóåé ), ‘liberty of approach’ scarcely expresses all the author’s thought. The multiplication of terms indicates an attempt to give utterance to something besides this. And so, according to the analogy of Rom_5:2 and Eph_2:18, we are warranted here also in translating ðñïóáãùãÞ , by ‘introduction.’ ‘While the former of the parallel terms (boldness) describes the liberty with which the newborn Church of the redeemed address themselves to God the Father and the unchecked freedom of their petitions, the latter (admittance) takes us back to the act of Christ by which He introduced us to the Father’s presence and gave us the place of sons in the house’ (Findlay in Expos. Biblc, ‘Ephesians’).
Confusion has been created by expositors insisting that ‘access’ must, in the three passages where the word occurs, always mean either introduction, or liberty of approach exclusively. But the larger concept, ‘introduction,’ includes the lesser, ‘liberty of approach.’ To put it in another way—the latter term follows from the former. Presentation at the Court of Heaven gives one the right to return there. It secures habitual access to God at all times.
3. 1Pe_3:18 ‘Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us ( ðñïóáãÜãῃ ) to God.’ The Apostle does not set himself in this Epistle to expound the theology of the Passion. His general purpose is to comfort and sustain Christians who are suffering persecutions. Some of them were slaves, enduring wrongs from cruel masters because of their faith in Christ. These were directed to the exemplary character of Christ’s sufferings. In 1Pe_3:13 St. Peter assures them that it is better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Then in 1Pe_3:18 he links them in thought with the suffering Saviour. But it is not on the exemplary significance of Christ’s sufferings that he enlarges. That is left behind. The writer is spellbound by the very mention of the Cross, and for a moment he forgets his purpose of directing some wronged slaves to Christ as the supreme example of suffering innocence, that he may state again the wider and deeper meaning of his Lord’s Passion. Christ suffered in connexion with sin once for all ( ἅðáî ). The unique significance of His death consisted in its being the death of a righteous person for the unrighteous ( äßêáéïò ὑðὲñ ἀäßêùí ); and His action had this end in view, that He might conduct us ( ðñïóáãÜãῃ ) to God: ‘ut nos, qui abalienati fueramus, ipse abiens ad Patrem, secum una, justificatos adduceret in cœlum, 1Pe_3:22, per eosdem gradus quos ipse emensus est, exinanitionis et exaltationis’ (Bengel). ‘And if the soul bear back still through distrust, He takes it by the hand and draws it forward; leads it unto His Father; presents it to Him, and leaves not the matter till it [the reconciliation between a sinner and God] be made a full and sure agreement’ (Leighton).
4. The word ðñïóáãùãÞ is not found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Access is expressed there in different language from that in the passages considered, because it is associated with somewhat different ideas. The author of Hebrews, writing as a pastor, not as an evangelist, aims at conserving rather than initiating faith. Instead of the Pauline and Petrine idea of the Saviour leading in a sinner, we have the sinner coming to the Saviour. Introduction ( ðñïóáãùãÞ ) becomes access, liberty of approach, approximation. Sinners are represented in the very act of approaching—are exhorted to approach. The worshippers under the law were ôïὺò ðñïóåñ÷ïìÝíïõò , ‘the comers’ (Heb_10:1); ‘not those that come to the worship, but those who by the worship come to God’ (Owen). Under the gospel (Judaism evolved) their attitude and character remained the same: Heb_7:25, Heb_11:6 (singular) or Heb_4:16, Heb_10:22, where believers are exhorted to draw near ( ðñïóåñ÷þìåèá ).
As a Hebrew Christian addressing Hebrew Christians, the writer of Hebrews makes large use of Old Testament conceptions and Old Testament rites familiar to himself and his correspondents. Urging upon them the truth ‘that the faith of Christ is the true and final religion’ (Davidson), he presents a series of contrasts between what was elementary in Judaism and the finished product of Christianity. Modern readers are apt to lose themselves amid unfamiliar details here. But it is possible to set these details in the background, and yet grasp the permanent truths, which are as important for us as for the readers to whom such details became the most effective illustrations. We shall keep this in view when attempting now to summarize the great facts associated with the idea of access in the four Epistles already referred to.
(1) The need of access to implies separation from God—want of fellowship like that enjoyed by those who walk in the light. We are by nature afar off (Eph_2:13), aliens (v. 12). There is an enmity which must be slain before peace is effected. The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom_1:18). The Ephesians were by nature children of wrath (Eph_2:3). That exhortation used in Hebrews to draw near (Heb_4:16; Heb_10:22) could be addressed only to those who are at a distance from God. ‘Whereas it is emphatically affirmed that He is able to save unto the uttermost, it is supposed that great oppositions and difficulties do lie in the way of its accomplishment’ (Owen).
(2) The great separating barrier is sin. All have sinned (Rom_3:25): and the correlative of universal sin is universal condemnation. Sin and death are so associated as to be completely one (Rom_5:12; Rom_5:14-15; Rom_5:17; Rom_5:21). The Ephesians are represented as dead in trespasses and sins (2:1).
(3) All three Persons of the Godhead conspired to deal with the problem of sin, in a way corresponding to its magnitude. Access is (a) to ( ðñüò ) the Father (Eph_2:18)—representing the God to whom we are to be reconciled and introduced, and into whose family we are to be adopted; (b) through ( äéÜ ) the Son (Rom_5:2, Eph_2:18); (c) by ( ἐí ) the Spirit (Eph_2:18).
(4) This is the special work of Christ. He bridges the gulf which sin has created between God and man. We have access into the grace of justification through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood (Rom_3:24-25). The double alienation from God and His Church discussed in Ephesians is removed through Christ—by His blood (Eph_2:13), by His flesh (Eph_2:15), by His Cross (Eph_2:16).
The steps whereby access was effected by Christ are clearly laid down in 1Pe_3:18. His death has a connexion with sin. He suffered once for all ( ἄðáî ), ‘so that to them who lay hold on Him this holds sure, that sin is never to be suffered for in the way of strict justice again, as not by Him, so not by them who are in Him’ (Leighton). The unique significance of Christ’s suffering in connexion with sins is expressed in the words ‘the just for the unjust’ ( äἰêáéïò ὑðὲñ ἀäßêùí ). In dying, the righteous One took on Himself the liability of the unrighteous. Access to God was, in St. Peter’s estimation, thus purchased at an unspeakable price. ‘A righteous One has once for all faced, and in death taken up and exhausted, the responsibilities of the unrighteous, so that they no more stand between them and God’ (Denney, The Death of Christ, p. 102).
The author of Hebrews explains and illustrates by a method sui generis, how Christ obtains access for us. Christ is the great High Priest interceding for men in the heavenly sanctuary, and the function which He discharges in heaven is based on the death which He died on earth. A priest’s duty is to establish and represent fellowship between God and man. Christ found that sin barred the way to this fellowship, and accordingly dealt with sin. He was appointed with a view to this end—to make propitiation for the sins of the people (Heb_2:17). In contrast with the Levitical priests and their duties, Christ’s Person and work are perfect ( ôÝëåéïò ). He deals with sin by way of sacrifice. This He did once when He offered up Himself (Heb_7:27). ‘Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, (Heb_9:26). ‘Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many’ (Heb_9:28). ‘For by one offering he hath perfected for ever [‘to perfect,’ ôåëåéïῦí , ‘is to bring into the true condition of those in covenant’] them that are sanctified’ [‘to sanctify,’ ἁãéÜæåéí , ‘is to make to belong to God,’ Davidson].
Associated with the same conception of sacrifice are the references in the Epistle to the blood of Christ. He entered into the Holy Place by ( äéÜ ) His blood (Heb_9:12). The blood of Christ, who offered Himself to God, purges the conscience from dead works (Heb_9:14). We have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Christ (Heb_10:19). Access is therefore dependent on Christ’s Person and work. In reliance on His sacrifice (Heb_10:19), along a way consecrated by His death (Heb_10:20), mindful of their High Priest (Heb_10:21) in heaven, believers are exhorted to draw near to God. The exhortation in Heb_4:16 to come boldly unto the throne of grace is also founded on Jesus having passed into the heavens as our great High Priest: and it adds the thought of Christ’s sympathy, as having experienced infirmities and temptations Himself, in order to encourage suppliants for mercy and grace. The truth put hortatively in these passages is also taught directly in Heb_7:25, where access is linked with intercession. This intercession, of which an example is preserved in John 17, is continued in heaven, and derives its power from the sacrifice which Christ offered on earth.
(5) Faith is the subjective condition of those who have access (Rom_3:25; Rom_5:2, Eph_3:12). ‘He who comes to God must believe that he is’ (Heb_11:6). The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a record of faith in action, faith as illustrated in the lives of saints, who first came to God, and then acted and endured, because sustained by the strength of God.
Literature.—The Commentaries on the passages discussed, especially Sanday-Headlam on Romans; Ellicott, Meyer, H. G. Miller, and Armitage Robinson on Ephesians; Delitzsch, Davidson, Westcott, and Bruce on Hebrews; also Calvin’s Institutes, iii. xiii. 5, xx. 12; Cremer’s Biblico-Theol. Lex.; Denney, The Death of Christ; Expositor, 4th series [1890], ii. 131; 2nd series [1882], iv. 321.
D. A. Mackinnon.